The name of the program (and the Justice League members featured with the Super Friends) has been variously represented (as Super Friends and Challenge of the Super Friends, for example) at different points in its broadcast history. There were a total of 109 episodes and two backdoor-pilot episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, with Batman and Robin appearing in "The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair" and "The Caped Crusader Caper".

Plot lines for the later series involved many of the familiar DC Comics super-villains that the first incarnation of the Super Friends did not. Instead, like the comic books, they focused on the far-fetched schemes of mad scientists and aliens, who were invariably revealed as being well-intentioned, and simply pursuing their goals through unlawful or disreputable means.[4] Typically, at the end of each story, a peaceful and reasonable discussion would be performed by the heroes to convince the antagonists to adopt more reasonable methods.[5]

The All-New Super Friends Hour departed somewhat from the previous series' formula by featuring villains using more elaborate methods to further their goals; as a rule they could not be reasoned with, requiring the heroes to use direct force to stop them. Beginning with Challenge of the Super Friends, several of the heroes' arch-villains from the comic books (such as Lex Luthor and The Riddler) began to feature prominently in comic-style stories. Throughout the series, plots often wrapped themselves up neatly in the final minutes of an episode in the fashion of the typical comic books and deus ex machina.[4]

When animation company Hanna-Barbera acquired rights to the DC Comics characters and adapted the Justice League of America comic book for television it made several changes in the transition, including the change of name to Super Friends. Nevertheless, team members sometimes referred to themselves as the Justice League on the show. The violence common in superherocomics was toned down for a younger audience and to adhere to broadcast standards governing violence in 1970s children's television.

Super Friends first aired on ABC on September 8, 1973, featuring well-known DC characters Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman.[6] Superman, Batman and Robin, and Aquaman had each previously appeared in their own animated series produced by Filmation, and voice talent from these prior programs was brought in to work on the new show (with the exception of Marvin Miller who was replaced by Norman Alden as the voice of Aquaman). Shortly before the Super Friends series was developed, Superman and Wonder Woman also guest-starred in two episodes of The Brady Kids (voiced by Bud Collyer and Jane Webb under Filmation), while Batman and Robin appeared in two episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies.

In addition to the superheroes, a trio of sidekicks was introduced, each of whom were new characters not drawn from the comic books: Wendy and Marvin (voiced by Sherri Alberoni and Frank Welker) and Wonder Dog (also voiced by Frank Welker), none of whom had any special abilities (save the dog's unexplained ability to reason and talk). The trio—or at least its human members—were depicted as detectives and/or superheroes-in-training; the "teen detectives and their talking animal" clichè, originally popularized by Scooby-Doo , and was typical in Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the mid/late 1970s.

Each episode began with the heroes responding to an emergency detected by the massive TroubAlert computer in the Hall of Justice, which served as the headquarters of the team. Colonel Wilcox, a U.S. Army official, was a recurring character who would act as a government liaison with the Super Friends during emergencies. Colonel Wilcox was voiced by John Stephenson.
Conflicts were usually resolved with the antagonists persuaded to adapt more reasonable methods to achieve their aims (with the assistance of the heroes). Natural disasters triggered by human (or alien) activity were often shown, and environmental themes featured strongly in the program. Three other DC Comics superheroes were featured as guest stars during this season: the Flash, Plastic Man, and Green Arrow.

This first run of Super Friends, consisting of 16 one-hour episodes which were rerun several times, concluded on August 24, 1974. At this point, the series was cancelled. However, interest in superheroes among ABC's prime-time viewers (with the success of The Six Million Dollar Man and the live-action Wonder Woman series) caused the network to revive Super Friends.[2] The original 16 episodes of the series were rebroadcast as a mid-season replacement, running from February 7, 1976, to September 3, 1977. These episodes were edited into half-hour versions. At the same time, DC Comics published a Super Friends comic, which used Wendy and Marvin from issue #1 (November 1976) to #6 (August 1977). In the meantime, Hanna-Barbera began production on a revamped version of the show.

The All-New Super Friends Hour featured four animated shorts per program. Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog were dropped from this and all future TV iterations of Super Friends, and were replaced by Wonder Twins Zan and Jayna, and their pet monkey, Gleek. Unlike Wendy and Marvin, Zan and Jayna had actual super powers. A total of 15 episodes were produced. Darrell McNeil of the Hanna-Barbera animation studios later explained the change in cast:

When the decision was made by ABC to renew Super Friends three years after the first series' 1973 production, ABC and Hanna-Barbara wanted to ramp up (as much as they could) the series' action content. And since we were ramping that up, that meant making all of our cast a bit more serious, and giving our five leads a bit more backup than three non-powered sidekicks. [New sidekicks] also helped emphasize the 'New' in All-New Super Friends. [emphasis in original][7]

The show followed a basic format each week. The first segment of every show featured two of the heroes (for the purposes of the team-ups in the first and fourth segments, Batman and Robin were considered "one hero") teaming up in a separate mini-story. The second segment featured a story with the Wonder Twins. The third segment was considered the "primary" adventure of the week, featuring the entire Super Friends roster (including the Wonder Twins) in a longer adventure. The fourth and final segment featured a story with one of the primary lineup and a "special guest star". This segment typically featured a problem that was solved using the guest star's unique abilities.

Between segments there were short spots with members of the Super Friends giving basic safety lessons, providing first-aid advice, demonstrating magic tricks, creating crafts, and presenting a two-part riddle featuring the week's primary plot line. This was the first season to feature two villains appearing in the comic books, Black Manta and Gentleman Ghost. Each appeared in only one episode this season and each was somewhat modified for television. Black Manta's costume was not black and he was only referred to as "Manta". The Gentleman Ghost was referred to as "Gentleman Jim Craddock".

The first segment of the program featured the established group of heroes: Superman, Batman and Robin, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and the Wonder Twins and Gleek. They were rerun with intro from the All-New Super Friends Hour when in syndication in the early 1980s, but they are seldom seen in syndication since then.

The second half-hour of the show introduced the Legion of Doom, a team of 13 recurring foes who are the Super Friends' worst enemies. They used a swamp-based mechanical flying headquarters, the Hall of Doom (resembling the helmet of Darth Vader), as a contrast to the Super Friends' gleaming Hall of Justice. A total of 16 episodes were produced.

Additional heroes who had previously appeared as guest stars were added to the roster as well, to make a total of 11. These included The Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman from DC Comics and three Hanna-Barbera creations: Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, and Samurai. Despite the Riddler showing a set of playing cards with (from left to right) Gleek, Zan, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Batman, and Superman (which he then burns to ashes in his introduction in "Wanted: The Super Friends"), the Wonder Twins and Gleek did not appear in Challenge. Enthusiasts have expressed the view that the storylines for the Challenge episodes were the Super Friends era's best portrayal of the DC heroes.[citation needed]

TheChallenge of the Super Friends segment was expanded to 90 minutes mid-season, with reruns of earlier episodes filling out the last half-hour.[7]

In the fall of 1979, the Super Friends returned to their prior format, bringing back the original set of five DC superheroes and Zan, Jayna, and Gleek. Eight half-hour episodes were created for this run, with the majority of the season consisting of repeats of The All-New Super Friends Hour from 1977 to 1978 and The Super Friends segments from Challenge of the Super Friends from 1978 to 1979. Renamed The World's Greatest Super Friends, this series began on September 22, 1979, and ran until September 27, 1980.[8]

Renamed Super Friends in 1980, the series changed formats again, abandoning the production of half-hour episodes and producing seven-minute shorts. Each episode of Super Friends would feature a rerun from one of the previous six years and three new shorts. These new adventures featured appearances by the core group of five Super Friends and Zan, Jayna, & Gleek. There were also guest appearances from members previously depicted in Challenge of the Super Friends and the Hanna-Barbera-created hero El Dorado, who was added to the show in 1981 to provide cultural diversity.

This would prove to be one of the longer-lived incarnations of the series (three years). A total of 22 episodes were produced.

For the 1982–1983 television season ABC ran half-hour reruns of shows from the previous seven seasons, with none of the seven-minute shorts rebroadcast. ABC called the rerun package The Best of the Super Friends.

Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. had created a syndication package of the earlier Super Friends series (co-distributed by LBS Communications); these were picked up by stations across the United States and typically broadcast on weekday afternoons. Not wishing to compete with the syndication programming, ABC dropped the series from the 1983–1984 Saturday morning television line-up. For the second time, Super Friends was cancelled.

Super Friends returned to ABC Saturday, September 8, 1984, with a new 30-minute program typically featuring two 11-minute stories per episode. This incarnation featured Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and the Wonder Twins and Gleek, this time teamed up with Firestorm. In addition to this core group, episodes during this season also featured cameos by old (and new) Super Friends. The series ended August 31, 1985, and featured comic-book villains such as Brainiac, Lex Luthor, Mirror Master, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Darkseid, and his henchmen from Apokolips. This season and the next featured the "Super Powers" tagline, which was part of a marketing tie-in with a toy line of the same name produced by Kenner.[7][10]

In fall 1985, the next version of Hanna-Barbera's depiction of the DC Comics heroes began, although it no longer carried the Super Friends name. This series returned to a conventional lineup for the team, with a focus on teen members Cyborg and Firestorm. Once again headquartered at the Hall of Justice in Metropolis, the heroes battled such familiar foes as Lex Luthor, Brainiac, the Scarecrow, and recurring villain Darkseid. It also contained the only appearances by The Joker, The Penguin, the Royal Flush Gang, and Felix Faust.

Most notably, it is in this series that Batman's origin is depicted for the first time outside of comics and the first cartoon series to touch upon the serious topic of the death of Bruce Wayne's parents in a flashback which is triggered after Batman and Robin chase The Scarecrow into Crime Alley where Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered. Additionally, in the same episode, Professor Jonathan Crane appears as the Scarecrow's secret identity, which was unknown to the authorities, allowing Scarecrow to use it to secretly sabotage the Super Friends' investigations until Batman managed to deduce his identity, leading to his arrest.

The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians lasted one season before being canceled. The final new episode aired was "Escape From Space City" on October 26, 1985. This third cancellation would be the final one, and Galactic Guardians marked the end of Hanna-Barbera's 13-year run of the series on October 26, 1985.

Beginning with the original Super Friends season, the opening narration describes the team's headquarters as "the great hall of the Justice League". The opening credits of Challenge of the Super Friends names the Super Friends as the Justice League of America. In addition to the appearance of a JLA emblem on a communicator and a reference to a mission to repair the Justice League satellite, the Super Friends are often linked with the JLA. The Justice League satellite under repair is clearly the same design as the Justice League Satellite that appeared in the comics at the time, but was shown to be substantially smaller than its comic book counterpart.

On January 18 and 25, 1979, Hanna-Barbera ran two one-hour live-action specials under the umbrella title Legends of the Superheroes. The first special, subtitled "The Challenge", was loosely based on the Super Friends and the 1960s Batman series (played for laughs, but this time, including a laugh track) and included several other DC characters who replaced Samurai, Black Vulcan, and Apache Chief: Black Canary, the E-2 Huntress Helena Wayne (a new DC character, gathering her own following in All-Star and Adventure Comics JSA runs as a JSA member), and Captain Marvel (who had previously had his own live action series through Filmation studios). The second special, entitled "The Roast", featured Ed McMahon as emcee of the roast, along the lines of The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast specials. Due to Warner Bros.' contracts on Wonder Woman (already being used in her own live action series; Lynda Carter) and Superman (in his own live-action theatrical movie at the time; Christopher Reeve), they were unable to be featured on the specials.

In 1983, a cartoon based upon The New Teen Titans comics began development. It was created as a companion for the Super Friends, to be set in the same continuity. Robin was not going to be featured in the cartoon though, at least not as a regular, since in the Super Friends universe, he was a member of the Justice League. Like Super Friends, the show was to be developed by Hanna-Barbera for ABC, but since shows like The Smurfs (airing on NBC) were so popular at the time, this show was never picked up by the network. The show would have featured Wonder Girl as the leader, along with Cyborg, Kid Flash, Changeling, Raven and Starfire. Although the show failed to get picked up, a television commercial with a substance abuse theme did feature the Titans, as they would have appeared in the animated series, along with a new superhero named "The Protector" who would have been the replacement character for Robin. A Teen Titans animated TV program was eventually produced, adding Robin and removing Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and The Protector.

Fisher-Price developed a toy line named DC Super Friends featuring DC Comics characters as toys for young children. A comic book series and direct-to-video original animation called The Joker's Playhouse (2010) was developed to tie-in. The video features the World's Greatest Super Friends theme, allusions to the Legion of Doom, and the Super Friends and their Hall of Justice. To watch a full array of clips, visit http://www.batterypop.com/shows/dc-super-friends.

The first use of the Super Friends name on a DC Comics publication was in Limited Collectors' Edition #C-41 (December 1975-January 1976) which reprinted stories from Justice League of America #36 and 61 and featured a new framing sequence by writer E. Nelson Bridwell and artist Alex Toth.[12][13] DC published a comic book version of the Super Friends from November 1976 to August 1981. The comic book series was launched by E. Nelson Bridwell and artist Ric Estrada.[14] Zan and Jayna were given back stories and secret identities as a pair of blond-haired high school kids; they were more competent heroes than their cartoon counterparts.

While the television cartoons were not part of the same fictional universe as the DC comic books, writer E. Nelson Bridwell made the comic book accord with the other DC titles via footnotes. An example of trying to fit Super Friends into the DC Universe:

Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog were the only ones active at the Hall of Justice, because the Justice League are in the 30th Century with the Justice Society (as shown in Justice League of America #147–148). Robin was busy helping the Titans in Teen Titans #50-52. Bridwell also gave them last names and ties to the other characters' histories; Wendy Harris was the niece of detective Harvey Harris (who helped train Batman) and Marvin White was the son of Diana Prince (the woman who helped provide Wonder Woman with a secret identity upon her arrival in America). While the show never explained the departure of Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog, the story was found in Super Friends #6–9.

The argument for the comic being part of the Earth-One continuity also included the fact that certain elements of the series impacted other books in the DC line:

1. TNT's appearance in Kandor in an issue of Superman Family that references events exclusively from Super Friends issue #12

2. Sinestro's lack of a power ring in an issue of The Brave and The Bold after the ring was destroyed in Super Friends issue #46.

3. Superman already being familiar with Dr. Mist and the international heroes in DC Comics Presents after meeting them in Super Friends issues 7 - 9 and 12-13.

Because the Super Friends stories were referenced in and the events in them remembered by the characters in the core DC superhero titles - for example, in Justice League of America #155 (June 1978 - Red Tornado remembers using his powers to break the time barrier, which he did in Super Friends issue #8) - they have to be considered part of the Pre-Crisis Earth 1 ensemble of stories.

Young Justice was a comic series that followed the adventures of a group composed of the latest teen superheroes of the late 1990s and early 2000s, including Robin, Superboy, Impulse and Wonder Girl. Towards the end of the run, Young Justice was involved in a mission which required them to invade an island whose population was made up of super-villains. In order to conduct a successful attack, the core team assembled all the then-known teen heroes (including the Wonder Twins). As in Extreme Justice, neither spoke English and both seemed to enjoy eating CDs. Unlike their cartoon counterparts, the Wonder Twins were rude and sarcastic.

The lighthearted nature of the show was spoofed in the 2000s with two DC miniseries, Formerly Known as the Justice League and I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League! (although these series were more direct take-offs on the 1980s Blue Beetle/Booster Gold-era Justice League). In these miniseries the group is known as the "Super Buddies", and consists of a team of ex-Justice League members. A television advertisement for the team shows them posing in the postures of the original Super Friends title card.

As of issue #34 (2006), Wendy and Marvin were part of the DC continuity. They are now fraternal twins (a nod to their Super Friends successors, the Wonder Twins), engineering geniuses (having graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at age 16), and are employed at Titans Tower as maintenance crew and mechanical troubleshooters. They were responsible for restoring Titans member Cyborg to full functionality after he sustained damage to his artificial body parts during the events of the Infinite Crisis mini-series. Wonder Dog was also introduced into the series, although (unlike the cartoon) he was not a lovable sidekick and pet, but a murderous, shape-shifting demon dog who was sent to Titans Tower to kill the team. Wonder Dog killed Marvin and attacked Wendy, leaving her crippled from the waist down. Wendy is a supporting character in the Batgirl series, where she receives help accepting her disabilities from former Batgirl Barbara Gordon.

During the events of the 2005 company-wide Infinite Crisis crossover the Justice League Watchtower was destroyed by Superboy-Prime, leaving the JLA without a base of operations. To that end, the team established the Hall of Justice in Washington, D.C. to act as an embassy for the team and an emergency base of operations if needed. In the continuity of the comics, the Hall was designed by Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. In Justice League of America #46 (2010) Samurai made his first appearance in the DC Universe, where he was shown as one of the heroes driven temporarily insane by Alan Scott.

Issue #77 of Wizard magazine parodied the Super Friends; the JLA was sent through a dimensional rift and met some of the Super Friends. After Martian Manhunter used his Martian vision to melt the villain and his machine (much to Green Lantern's dismay: "You have to trick him into leaving, or shutting off his machine, NOT direct physical violence!"), the Super Friends decided to send the Justice Leaguers back to their own dimension. As a jest, the magazine also ran an April Fool's promotion for a Wonder Twins special by painter Alex Ross. The book, entitled Wonder Twins: Form of Water, was to be one of Alex Ross' oversized books chronicling the Justice League. The plot would see Zan and Jayna using their powers to help the Earth's famine- and drought-stricken nations after their monkey, Gleek, contracted super-rabies from severe dehydration.

At the end of "Secret Origins," the premiere three-episode arc of Justice League, Superman proposes the formation of a superhero coalition including himself, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash (Wally West), the Green Lantern (John Stewart), the Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl. In a direct reference (and perhaps a criticism of the somewhat silly name), the Flash jokingly asks if such a team would be called "Super Friends". Superman relabels the guild as the "Justice League".

In the animated series Justice League Unlimited, Gorilla Grodd reforms his Secret Society this time an even larger group of villains. While not called "The Legion of Doom", their headquarters is a craft similar to the Hall of Doom, located in a swamp. Additionally, the Justice League's Metro Tower headquarters in Metropolis strongly resembled the Hall of Justice.

The Ultimen, loosely based on characters created for the Super Friends, were briefly allies and later antagonists to the JLU. The Ultimen consisted of Long Shadow (based on Apache Chief), Juice (based on Black Vulcan), Wind Dragon (based on Samurai), Downpour and Shifter (based on the Wonder Twins). The group appeared in the episode "Ultimatum", where it is revealed that they are clones created by Project Cadmus.

The Wonder Twins appeared in the Smallville episode "Idol", with Zan played by David Gallagher and Jayna played by Allison Scagliotti. Gleek did not appear physically, but a cartoonish image of him was shown on each of the twins' cellphones.

The Hall of Justice was featured in Young Justice as the Justice League's decoy base of operations. Additionally, Wendy and Marvin appear as classmates of Conner Kent and Megan Morse. The members of the Injustice League operate out of a base resembling the Legion's Hall of Doom.

In the second season, approximations of the minority members created for Super Friends (similar to the Ultimen example above) are introduced as teenagers given powers by the Reach. The group consists of Tye Longshadow (Apache Chief), Asami "Sam" Koizumi (Samurai) and Eduardo "Ed" Dorado Jr. (El Dorado). The exception is Black Vulcan, whose place is taken by Milestone Media hero Static (though Black Lightning also appears in the series).

The title of the Super Best Friends ForeverDC Nation Shorts is a play on the title Super Friends. Additionally, Black Vulcan's costume can be seen in the background of the first Black Lightning short. The Farm League carries several homages to the Super Friends including its narrator, characters used and graphics.

In the Teen Titans Go!Two-Parter episode, the Titans go to the Hall of Justice to use the pool, as later, they become members of the Justice League to save the Justice League members from Darkseid, this sequence parodies the introduction of the super heroes as in the Super Friends series.

In the episode "You're Fired", Beast Boy is fired from the Teen Titans, and a competition is held to find his replacement. The eventual winners are the Wonder Twins.

In the pilot episode of Supergirl, Winn Schott considers calling the group of Kara Zor'El and her allies (himself, James Olsen, and Alex Danvers) "The Super Friends". In the fourth season episode, "What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice, And The American Way?", Kara forms a small team of heroes that includes herself, Brainiac 5, Dreamer, and the Martian Manhunter and directly calls them "The Super Friends". In the fifth season episode, "Back From the Future - Part One", the Star L.A.B.S base is now called the Hall of Justice.

In the "Invasion" cross-over event, across Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and DC's Legends of Tomorrow, the secret STAR Labs base used by the heroes was based on the Hall of Justice. Also later on in that season, Barry and Supergirl sing a duet called "Super Friends" in order to escape the Music Meister’s musical.

In the episode "Doomworld", The new design of S.T.A.R. Labs is a reference to the Hall of Doom, which in the comics is the headquarters for the Legion of Doom. In the final scene of "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Five", Barry repurposed the secret S.T.A.R. Labs base as the headquarters for Earth-Prime's heroes. In the closing moments of the crossover, the unnamed team is disrupted by the confusing sound of laughter (revealed to be an escaped Gleek, hinting at a possible future inclusion of the character and/or Wonder Twins). Afterwards, the camera pans out to the headquarters as music based on the original series plays in the background.

The Super Powers toy line (and associated tie-in merchandise) was based on the final two seasons of Super Friends. Samurai, an original character from the show, and the Hall of Justice were both released. Plans for future waves from Super Powers would have also included Apache Chief, El Dorado, Black Vulcan and the Wonder Twins.

The toy line based on Justice League Unlimited released a three pack of figures from characters created for Super Friends, namely Black Vulcan, Apache Chief and Samurai. They were chosen over the Ultimen characters that actually appeared in the JLU animated series: Juice, Long Shadow and Wind Dragon.

Figures Toy Company is a company that produces a number of 'nostalgia' figures based on TV shows and comic books. The figures are vinyl dolls with removable outfits. They have released a line of figures that includes a near complete Legion of Doom (only Giganta has not been released). They have announced a Rima the Jungle Girl figure, and were the first company to release figures for Wendy & Marvin. To date, figures have been released for: Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, Aquaman, Wendy, Marvin, Zan, Jayna, Gleek, Black Vulcan, Samurai, Apache Chief, El Dorado, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Atom, Firestom, and Cyborg